


Your Brother, Crutchie

by The3rdTrumpeteer



Series: Refuge and Remedies [7]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Gen, a different take on letter from the refuge, angsty galore, jack's just mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 04:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14824878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The3rdTrumpeteer/pseuds/The3rdTrumpeteer
Summary: Crutchie writes Jack a letter from the Refuge.





	Your Brother, Crutchie

Crutchie counts himself lucky that he finds a clean scrap of paper and a pencil in his pockets (how convenient is it that he was just practicing his writing that morning before everything went to hell?)

He sits on the top bunk, legs dangling off the side. His bad leg throbs, but he tries to ignore it. After all, there’s nothing he can do about it. And he can’t tell anyone, either; there’s no doubt Snyder would use it against him.

Everyone else is asleep, but Crutchie just can’t bring himself to close his eyes. He’s afraid that he’ll be caught off guard by...Snyder? A guard? The other kids? There are so many threats that he doesn’t even know who he should be scared of anymore. Besides, there’s not quite enough room on the crowded bunk for him to lie down. So instead Crutchie writes, glad that he’s near enough to the dirty window to use the light of the moon that manages to penetrate the grime.

_ Dear Jack… _

Crutchie concentrates on making each letter the right shape, hoping that all the words make sense together. He doesn’t want Jack to worry.

_ How are you? I’m okay. Guess I wasn’t much help yesterday. _

He wishes he could have done more, but there was so much happening at once. At least he managed to get a hit in, but it definitely hadn’t made Morris too happy with him.

_ Snyder soaked me real good with my crutch. _

And Crutchie is still feeling the blows. He doesn’t know where his crutch is now, but he suspects Snyder still has it. He feels bad; Jack worked so hard to get that crutch for him, and now it’s gone.

_ Oh yeah, Jack, this is Crutchie, by the way. _

Crutchie mentally chides himself. Jack has to know who’s writing him.

_ These here guards, they is rude. They say, “jump, boy, you jump or you’re screwed!” _

Crutchie’s only seen the guards once since he woke up. They grabbed some random kid and dragged him out. The kid was kicking and screaming, but it didn’t do him much good. He hasn’t come back yet.

_ But the food ain’t so bad, least so far, ‘cause so far they ain’t brung us no food. _

At least there was a steady stream of food at the lodging house, even if it wasn’t much. But Crutchie doesn’t want Jack to worry.

_ Ha, ha. _

There.

_ I miss the rooftop. _

There are so many things Crutchie misses, and it’s only been hours since he was arrested.

_ Sleeping right out in the open in your penthouse in the sky. There’s a cool breeze blowing, even in July. _

He misses hearing Jack’s soft breathing as he sleeps. Misses waking up to the morning bell. Misses...everything.

_ Anyway, so guess what! There’s a secret escape plan I got. Tie a sheet to the bed, toss the end out the window, climb down, then take off like a shot! _

It’s a brilliant plan if Crutchie says so himself, but there’s only one problem.

_ Maybe though, not tonight, I ain’t slept, and my leg still ain’t right. _

Is it possible for his leg to hurt worse than it did five minutes ago? God, he’s exhausted.

_ Hey, but Pulitzer, he’s going down! _

They’re going to win. Crutchie just knows it.

_ And then, Jack, I was thinking we might just go, like you was saying, where it’s clean and green and pretty, with no buildings in your way, and you’re riding Palominos every day! _

Jack made it all sound so wonderful. Crutchie hopes that one day he can see Santa Fe.

_ Once that train makes- _

The door swings open, and Crutchie jumps. Snyder’s there in the doorway, two guards behind him. He points to Crutchie. The guards stalk toward him. One grabs the piece of paper and pencil and tosses them to the floor. The other grabs Crutchie before he can do anything. He struggles, but it’s no use. They drag him out of the room, and he’s absolutely terrified.

* * *

 

After what seems like hours, the guards haul Crutchie back into the bunkroom. He can’t stand, can’t walk. His good leg is on fire. His bad leg is just numb. They leave him on the floor. Crutchie is too tired to care. All he wants to do is sleep, but he vaguely remembers that he has something to do. Oh, yeah. His letter to Jack. Thankfully, the paper is still lying on the floor, the pencil near it. They’re in arm’s reach. Crutchie grabs them, stares at the words he wrote. He can’t bring himself to finish the sentence because after what Snyder did...Crutchie’s not so sure he’s ever getting out of this place. So he ignores what he wrote before and just writes what comes to his mind first.

_ Damn this place. _

It’s true. But he still doesn’t want Jack to worry.

_ I’ll be fine. Good as new. _

That sounds believable, right?

_ But there’s one thing I need you to do. _

There’s a lot of things Crutchie needs Jack to do, but this is the most important.

_ On the rooftop, you said that a family looks out for each other. So you tell all the fellas, for me, to protect one another! _

They need to stick together now more than ever. Crutchie doesn’t want anyone else to end up here.

_ The end. _

No better way to finish a letter, he thinks. Time to sign it.

_ Your friend… _

No, that’s not right. He scratches it out and tries again.

_ Your best friend… _

Still not quite good enough. One more time.

_ Your brother… _

Perfect.

_ Crutchie. _

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: http://poorguysheadisdoingwhatnow.tumblr.com/


End file.
